Table of Contents Islands and the City 4 Moving People and Goods 12 Soaring Skyscrapers 17 What to Do 23 Timeline 29 Glossary 30 Index 31 Show What You Know 31 Websites to Visit 31 About the Author 32 VT NY PA MD CT New York NJ United States New York City Facts Founded New York City as New Amsterdam 1626 Renamed New York 1664 New York City with five boroughs 1898 Land area 304 square miles 787 4 square kilometers Elevation 410 feet 130 meters above sea level Previous name New Amsterdam Population 8 5 million Average Daytime Temperatures winter 41 degrees Fahrenheit 5 degrees Celsius spring 60 5 degrees Fahrenheit 16 degrees Celsius summer 82 degrees Fahrenheit 28 degrees Celsius fall 64 degrees Fahrenheit 18 degrees Celsius Ethnic diversity African-American 25 5 American Indian or Alaska Native 7 Asian 12 7 Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 01 Hispanic or Latino 28 6 White 33 3 New York City Nicknames The City The Big Apple Gotham The City That Never Sleeps The Melting Pot The Center of the Universe The Empire City New York Number of Visitors Annually 56 4 million
Islands and the City More people live in New York City than any other city in the United States Its population is about 8 5 million Most of the city is on islands in the harbor where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Hudson River These islands used to be covered in forest Today a patch of that forest is at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx Some of its trees are 200 years old NYC Notes New York City has a nickname the Big Apple A sportswriter in the 1920s used the nickname in some New York Morning Telegraph articles and it stuck New York City is on about 50 islands including Staten Island Manhattan Island and part of Long Island 4
American Indians called the Lenape fished and hunted on the islands They greeted Giovanni da Verrazzano 1485 1528 an Italian explorer when he sailed into the harbor Later Henry Hudson 1565 1611 came He was English but sailed for the Dutch He sailed his ship The Half Moon up the Hudson River Many ships still come and go from this harbor Henry Hudson was searching for a route to China He didn't find one Instead the Dutch began trading with the American Indians 5
